Changes are afoot at Highdive. First, they re-designed their website, and now they’ve up and added a whole new stage (on the “quiet” side of the bar), designed to accomodate smaller local/regional acts. In my mind, it’s a great move. As sweet as Highdive is as a venue, it can feel a bit cavernous for those lesser-attended shows. The smaller stage should provide some much-needed intimacy. As a show series, this is a well-deserved opportunity for the punk scene to break into doing more venue/bar shows after putting in dues over the last year, mainly at Red Star and Mike ‘N Molly’s. A move to downtown Champaign means more foot traffic, new listeners and ultimately more fans.. We spoke to Justin Scofield, Roberta Sparrow guitarist and the man in charge of booking the new series.
SP: You were previously booking shows at Red Star. Why the move to Highdive?
Justin Scofield: The General Manager Gabe Neil had talked to Jason and I about doing it because he wanted to bring back more of a rock culture to The Highdive, like there was when it opened. For us, it helps because of the foot traffic downtown and it’s more of a central location. We feel we can get better crowds for the bands in downtown Champaign, at least during summer. We kind of make it work here at Red Star, but it wasn’t designed to accommodate bands like the Highdive is.
SP: Can you talk a little about the new stage? Where exactly is it in the bar? Why it was put in?
JS: The new stage is on what we refer to as the “quiet” side of the bar, which is on the west side of the dividing brick wall in the middle of the bar. They built it to give more options for doing live music. It is a more intimate atmosphere, but at the same time it has it’s own sound system which sounds amazing. And it’s not such a monstrous stage like the other side, which is kind of crass for smaller shows!
SP: What would be your dream show to book on the new stage?
JS: My “dream” show would be Latterman opening for Jawbreaker on their reunion tour! My dream show that is feasible would be Daytrader, Castevet and The Disappeared. We are definitely persuing regional and national bands for this, but at the same time, I’m perfectly content with just having local bands all summer. We have an amazing scene and I could probably book CU bands and fill every week for 3 months.
SP: How many people are you hoping for on Tuesday, roughly?
JS: Well, this first week I think is gonna be a packed house. I booked as many of my favorite bands as I could squeeze onto the bill. I hope to average over 50 people on a weekly basis. The more people we average, the easier it will be to pay guarantees to national acts. Over all, I just want everybody who comes to experience amazing music and have a great time and hopefully we can expose our scene to a lot of new people who maybe don’t attend the house shows around town. Either way, I know I’m gonna enjoy it!!
The Diamond Stretch, Bad Catman, Roberta Sparrow, The Fresh Kills and Panel Van perform at the Highdive on Tuesday, May 31st. Doors open at 9:00 p.m. and the show carries a $5 cover.